Yikes. Anderson Cooper Drawing Less People At 8PM Than Eliot Spitzer

Cooper debuted in his new 8pm time slot on Monday and so far the ratings suggest CNN may want to rethink the decision.

TVNewser reports: "Cooper averaged 157K in the A25-54 demo and 502K in Total Viewers last week. By comparison the previous 8pmET show, "In the Arena" hosted by Eliot Spitzer averaged 184K and 599K during the second quarter (April-June)."

Yikes.

Now for the necessary caveats.

It's the dead of August.

People are accustomed to seeing Anderson at 10pm and CNN is currently reairing his now-8pm show at 10pm so there's no reason for people to change their habits.

Last week's news cycle was dominated by the S&P downgrade and the markets. Anderson was in Africa reporting on the Somalia famine, which sadly was not as compelling a news story.

Cooper is now up against Bill O'Reilly. Barring a nuclear crisis in Japan Bill O'Reilly is pretty much unbeatable in the 8pm.

This is Anderson's first week. Did we mention it's the middle of August?